My all-time favorite holiday in Ecuador is not New Year’s Eve itself, but the preparation for New Year’s Eve, when people make or buy the papier mache ‘Los Anos Viejos’ and display them proudly outside their home or business. Richard, one of the staff members of the Portoviejo Museum, starts making Ano Viejos in August and sells them at the end of each year. A few weeks ago I visited Richard’s home and received a sneak peek of his army of creations!

Richard & family at the Ivo Uquillos retrospective exhibit

Let’s go see his workshop! (Hold your cursor over each image for more information, or click the baby in the hammock to start the slide show!)

We first walked past the sleeping baby!

We walked past the starfruit tree, and the rooster cages…

Lovingly protected from dust and possible sprinkles, the ‘viejos’ in progress awaited their first formal introduction to society!

Seeing these beneath the plastic gave me a surreal feeling!

He has an army of viejos waiting for more war paint!

I purchased an unpainted one!

Richard explains how they’re made.

His daughter displays the model!

The Proud Artist!

“Bye! Thanks for the visit!

The ‘Anos Viejos/Old Men” represent the old year, and at midnight, the effigies are burned. The old year is burned away, and the new year is free from the old baggage! ( Many people enjoy leaping over the burning effigies!)

Let’s go see what the creative people of Jama created last year! Many people stuff firecrackers in their creations, so when they are burned at midnight, there’s a little extra drama! I always stop to visit my friends Chana and Arturo, who own a little corner store in town. Chana shrugged when I asked to see her Ano Viejo. She seemed to think she was unable to create one by herself. With a smile, I retorted, “Well, LET’S MAKE ONE!” “With what?” she replied. Here’s what we whipped up in an hour’s time! (She, by the way, had a great time and insisted on creating its hat!)

On last year’s post, Los Anos Viejos, Fran from Spain commented about his New Year’s Eve traditions; he said, “ When in Spain, our main tradition is to have 12 grapes before it turns into midnight. If you want to start the year with happiness and you want luck, be with you, you have several requirements to fulfill: First you have to be with your right foot on the floor (the left one on the air), Second, you have to wear red underwear, and Third last but not least, eat those twelve grapes at the right time. Like this:” (He gives a link to a video!)

In addition to the ano viejo effigies, another tradition in Ecuador is for the men to dress as a widow mourning her old man/old year. They stand at the street corners and ask people for money, a token amount, which probably is spent later on cervesas! A token quarter or dime pleases them!

Ano Viejo Fun – Jama, Ecuador / These great guys are normal all year until Ano Viejo rolls around!

Come Back Soon!

Visit Jake’s Sunday Post for more samples of theNew Year 2013. Why not add a few new items to your new year’s traditions? Buy some red underwear and a cluster of grapes! Create a token ano viejo and be prepared to balance on one foot or leap over the burning effigy! Do you have any special new year’s traditions?Happy New Year!Lisa/Z

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51 thoughts on “New Year’s Traditions In Ecuador”

Great traditions. I like the idea of burning up the old year, an especially good idea if it has been a bad year. Don’t think I have time to get red underwear now, nor grapes. We are fairly boring; just sing Auld Lang Syne.

ha – about the red underwear!
yes, i like that part about burning away the old year as well.. for the good memories and the bad – they’re all in the past and we step (jump!) into the new year!

my friends and i had fun one year in costa rica observing that ecuadorian tradition! i had declined to attend a gathering, because i wanted to have my ano viejo ceremony, and they all made amazing small viejos and brought them to my place. we burned them all and jumped over the petite fires and laughed a lot!

Z, I am still not sure about the young guys dressing like women…in Playas a few do this all year long, wearing huge balloons inside thier dresses both chest and backside. They try to sell you gum or candies. It is quite foreign to me…not sure if I will ever get used to it, Nancy

that would be quite an adjustment for me! i’ve been sitting on my deck for the past two hours and watching the day awaken! the kingfishers have been quite chatty and entertaining. your reports remind me to be grateful to live in this perpetual springtime climate!

Lisa – I had one rather large woman with a five-o’clock shadow and bright lip-stick come up to me at the market in Charapoto this morning. He/she wanted to kiss me, but I only let him kiss my cheek and the crowd got a kick out of us bantering as I refused to let him take any more advantage of me! Ecuadorianos sure do know how to let loose and have fun. John

How cool Lisa! I wish New Years Eve here had more fun celebrations . We don’t do much but I love how other countries incorporate such wonderful festive traditions. The beat place in the US I spent New Years Eve in is Key West. What a blast! Happy New Year!!!

Interesting! I LOVE all the photos of the different old men. It seems that here in the Pacific Northwest, fireworks are the preferred way to usher in the New Year. A bit of the Old Wild West I guess…but we’ll see tomorrow; it’s the first 1/1 in this area.

So many good ideas…The burning I think we should start doing here in my corner of the world. It’s a bit like the old scapegoat being driven out in the desert. Maybe a tradition like this would make it easier for people not to dwell on old quarrels and the like.

Don’t have a tradition, but I may start the red underwear one.. The grapes might be accompanied by their cousin, the wine. And next year I think uno or dos ano viejos will be in order if things don’t start perking up! Thanks for the fun post.
Prospero ano, z.

i like the suggestion of wine with the grapes! you still have time to make a tiny ano viejo! use a cardboard center from a roll of paper towels and bend it in half to make the torso.. sticks for arms and lets (tape them) and put a tennis ball or crumpled wad of paper for the head!

Z, I love this. Thanks for sharing. By the way, a Datsun truck that still runs. How long ago did Nissan ditch the Datsun name? That person has some pride in his/ her vehicle. Have a great 2013 and the prep beforehand. BTG

Richard would be honored to know that you liked his truck! One sees many unique old vehicles in Latin America. There is a 2-door Chevrolet Trooper in Ecuador, though Costa Rica has the 4-door Isuzu Troopers. There’s a great old truck in Jama – I’ll have to dig through my photos and see if I can retrieve those photos – it’s an amazing old red truck!

Muchos gracias. I hang on to cars a long time, but that is much longer than my best effort. Tell him well done. Of course, memories come with the vehicle, so when you do shed one, it is a melancholy experience. BTG

you are so right! i have the plates from my old jeep and old isuzu tropper. i miss both of those work horses! the front bumper of my jeep served as a great seat while i drew or painted on location. both vehicles took me to and through some amazing places and memories. z

How interesting. I think you folks have much more creative años viejos (though maybe the one in our neighborhood was louder!). Maybe we’ll have to do that next year. I like the idea very much. Around here, I heard it’s yellow underwear, not red, but grapes are necessary. I couldn’t figure out why there were so many produce guys in town the other day and every one of them had lots and lots of grapes. I can see me next year making an año viejo, with my yellow and red underwear (need to cover all the bases, ya know), stocked up on grapes, springs of wheat behind the door, walking in a circle around my house with a suitcase, money in my hand, lemons in the corners of the house…. let’s see, what else did I read about? This is so much more fun than another New Year’s in the US :D

you are so right! i love how creative latin america is on so many different levels.. even the colors of their houses are wild and dramatic at times! how did our culture ‘back home’ get so anemic in comparison?!!!!

yes, here’s to learning more and enjoying as many of those end-of-year customs as possible!
lisaZ

hey amiga
sorry i’ve not gotten back on replying; thanks for your amazing comment! it’s so great to read your posts and appreciate your enthusiasm for your new life in panama!
our rainy season has formally kicked into gear; this is the third night of rain (i’m working really late tonight) and the days have been sun/drizzle/sun/drizzle, showers, clouds… very soothing subtle way to go from drought to green! we’re also losing power and internet a lot!
a painting presently trumps other duties, and when i finish a session of extreme concentration, i am exhausted!
buenos noches, and i hope to soon be back on WP more often!
z

Such a wonderful and enjoyable post. I kept thinking about Burning Man while I was reading it! I don’t think I ever could actually bring myself to go to Burning Man (I’m not weird enough, and not rich enough!) but I could enjoy seeing all of this in Ecuador.

I’m curious about the photo that appears to show a man kneeling next to a bed with a sign that says “Mayo”. Obviously, that can’t be a reference to the Mayo Clinic, although that’s the first thing I thought of. But what is it, really?

the free-range goats have been raiding my yard this week, so i’ve been mending fences and building better ones. it’s almost time for a goat roast! grrrrrrrrrrr.

today while i was in town, they found a way through (broke through) and pruned back the hibiscus, trampled other plants, and drank from the bucket of ‘backup water for the young plants. i’ve decided to dump a few bottles of salsa picante in the water and sit back tomorrow and see what happens! wanna place a bet? will they react?

i think i repaired the fence, so i’ll put the bucket outside the fence then play ‘mrs. crabitz!’

here’s another view of the image.. this was located across the street from a tire/mechanic’s shop. though it looked like a bed, it’s actually someone changing a tire on a car!

Hello, I’m ecuadorian and I’ve been in USA too, I’d like to invite to everybody for the new years eve.. we burn down AÑO VIEJOS we blew them with the firecrackers and other explosives, it’s funny because we always have bad news of the government and politics every day of the year, so burning down años viejos is the best way to say farewell forever to the year.. HAHA.. since the dollar came to our country as the official currency, the economy inside the country is more balanced than before.. But everytime, every year we burn down años viejos, is our favourite tradition.. You have to be part of it.. =)